1. This invention is directed to a back-lighted phosphorescent panel for silhouetting identification indicia, such as house numbers, and in particular to a panel having long range visibility, for remote viewing.
2. There are products presently available in the market for use with house address numbers, wherein a planar panel is backlighted by phosphor-based luminescence, to silhouette dark numbers which block off selected areas of the lighted surface.
These prior art products are characterized by a number of disadvantageous aspects:                1) the panels are limited in size, usually to rectangles about 3-inches by 5-inches;        2) many of the panels are permanently energized, being connected to the door-bell power circuit, thereby reducing the working life of the panel;        3) the panels are subject to ultra-violet degradation, becoming bleached by sunlight.        
The small, three inch by five inch size of existing panels defeats a major safety potential of such signage, which is the rapid identification of a property address by distant-viewing from a remote vantage point in the adjacent street at times of crisis and extreme emergency.
At the present time, when an emergency alarm is generated for a service such as the Fire Service, in answer to a domestic call involving a fire or a heart attack, it is frequently necessary for a pilot, spotter vehicle to precede the response team, in order to locate the given address of the premises where the crisis has originated. In such instances, the currently available above-mentioned illuminated signage is generally completely indecipherable from the street, owing to its undue size limitation, rendering it virtually useless at a time when it is most needed. The delay presently associated with this circumstance may prove in some instances to be fatally critical.